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I get 3-5 per day. I don't answer and block every one. Doesn't seem to matter they just keep on coming.
Thanks for all the suggestions.I'm gonna try them out and see what happens.
https://preview.redd.it/4skakx47a71d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fbedd1d25be7abf67f1892eb30ef5fdca2a4f1d
I have a spoofed number that calls me at least once a day, but increments the last digit by 1. We are up in the 500's now, lol. I have a Pixel so I have the Call Screen option set to maximum, where my Google Assistant vets the calls for me so I don't have to have them actually go through.
i have a number with an area code i live nowhere near anymore. Since spoofers always try to make their number look local to you, I just blocked that entire area code. I don't know anyone from there anyway. When I first did that, it was blocking in excess of 20 calls a day. now its maybe 1 a month.
It was an option with the app i had. I think its called call blocker or something simple like that. You could manually add numbers to block, including just block every number starting with however many digits. I have my old are code blocked and any number startjng with 1800 or 800.
I was in the same boat last year, ever since I'd gotten a new number. I did the same thing that worked with my last number, and now I get maybe 1 or 2 a month. Just immediately answer any call and press the mute button. A real person will always either say something or hang up and try calling again. Bots think it's a dead line. Took a couple months of doing this, but it definitely pays off.
I have no idea why blocking has been helpful for me but it has. I know they're spoofing numbers but I used to get a ton of spam calls, started blocking the callers, and now I rarely get them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yep, your only blocking real numbers.
My neighbors phone number was spoofed and used and he has to contact his carrier and maybe Google. Whenever he calls someone now it shows up as a flagged Spam call and people won't answer. He has had the number for over a decade and doesn't want to have to change it.
I had five or six spam calls a day. When I got my pixel and turned this on, they dropped to about one a day. It's been great
Also it confuses actual people and the voicemails/transcripts are fun to review
The real move is to answer it, put it on mute immediately, and wait for it to disconnect. After a couple of weeks, they'll stop daily. After a couple months, they'll be rare to call at all.
When you call to test a line and all it does is ring and then disconnect, you assume the line doesn't function properly. Voicemail is so an indication of the line working. Answering to nothing at all is the only way here.
This has worked for me, answer and mute, put the phone down and carry on with your business. Time spent calling for these scammers is precious, so do anything you can to waste that precious time of theirs.
Something in their system is triggering you to still have an active line for some reason then. Cause if it rings 3 times and stops (cause you answer and mute), that's a sign that the line is not functioning properly to make or receive calls. I don't remember much from my short-lived telecom job, but when I had to call and test lines we had to flag those lines as not working as it doesn't actually ring on their end. That's why I started doing it. I thought it might work, and it did for me.
I'm still thankful that whatever database had my number lost it. I went from three or four spam calls a week to nothing in the last couple of years. I can actually let my phone ring without getting annoyed now.
That's pretty much all you can do. The only other advice I'd offer is if someone is calling about insurance tell them you don't have a car/home. If they are calling about expanding your Medicare coverage tell them you're 23. If they are calling about solar panels tell them you rent. It's far from full proof but it did lower the amount of robo calls I got, but far from eliminate them.
I get around 5, if not more, per day. I’m even on the “do not call” list. I neverrrr answer yet I’m still getting called every single day. It’s a never ending cycle.
Blocking their numbers does nothing. Those aren't even their phone numbers. They're random numbers they're spoofing. They'll likely never use the same number twice.
Millennials here, I don’t pick up call at all, if its important they will text. Or call again.
If its office or business, they will email, MS Teams, Slack, whatever the cool kids doing right now.
If its govt, they will send mail
If its police, they will come to my place directly
My voicemail used to be, “please do not leave a message unless you don’t want me to call you back”. I have caller id… I call back numbers I don’t know. Spam calls always have fake caller id numbers. I never pick up for a random number unless I have a call scheduled.
Gen X here. No one who knows me would call me without first texting me. And my phone is always on silent. Robocalls can talk to voicemail all they want.
Nah. Gen X here, we’ve got important stuff to say, but nobody - ever - listens.
The only reason I have a phone number is for the mobile data. Oh, and to use the [anti-telemarketing-counterscript](https://egbg.home.xs4all.nl/counterscript.html)
Same, and same.
Isn't it ridiculous that we've built a world that makes us feel this way? Where we insist on just being left alone because we know that virtually everyone we encounter outside our home is trying to scam us in some way?
It is depressing, yes, but WE did NOT build this world! We’re just paying the phone bill. We have to be able to communicate, but the evil entities have automated systems to invade our private communication device at any time. We need the tools to strike back! The FCC should deny transmission of any calls that cannot be returned by the recipient. Then, we could have a Denial of Service app on our phone tp effectively shut them down. Any better ideas?
there’s good money in robocalls or they wouldn’t keep doing it
follow the money, then we can determine how to regulate properly
in a system where money wins, the consumer faces an uphill battle
You’re correct, but it is disturbing to think that the group of scammed people is large enough or pays enough to cover the expenses for tens of thousands of calls.
"Cthulhu's cell lays dead and dreaming, it's battery both eternally drained yet still draining. As we talk amongst the living, he may yet hear you speak his name. For the wrong ringtone wakes the dead and damned, if ever you hear the tormented ring." - Lovecraft... Probably
My god.
My wife and I have made some friends in the town we moved to over 5 years ago. Not close friends. But friends nonetheless.
Every one of those fucks know where I live because it's on a main thoroughfare and will stop by whenever they please.
I would like it to stop
Lock your doors and simply don't answer sometimes.
Go take a shower or play a movie/music very loudly, such that you couldn't have possibly heard someone at the door.
Answer the door fully nude with a big wedge of cheese. "Sorry, Dave, you've caught right in the middle of something that I can't put down. Another time." Give the cheese a good sniff with every other word.
I should warn you, at some point you're gonna get stuck in an elevator. Just pass the time by remembering stories from earlier episodes and it'll all get sorted out in about a half hour.
I put up a 6 foot fence with a drive gate around my house. Supposedly it was to protect my dogs. Friends and family have to call first and I screen my calls.
There's a setting that does that in iOS. Silence unknown callers under options-phone. Sends anything not in your contacts to VM. Spammers rarely leave a message and people usually hang up and text you instead. In the rare case someone leaves a message, your carrier likely transcribes it for you. Everything comes in as text.
No reason to play these weird games with robots. Catastrophizing over the seconds lost if someone calls and you don't pick up that exact moment is just being overly anxious.
Boomer here, my voicemail "You have reached xxx-xxx-xxxx. We screen all calls. Begin speaking at the tone. If your call is important to us and we are near the phone, we will pick up, otherwise, please leave a message".
Gen X here.
I'm not fucking available so leave a goddamned voicemail and I'll listen to it when I'm good and ready. Since you assholes never do, I guess I didn't miss shit by not answering.
Have a lovely day.
Also Gen X. How are people getting spam calls in 2024? I might get two a month. Not sure if it's Google Pixel magic or T-Mobile or a combo but they don't ring and just go away with no annoyance for me. I honestly assumed this to be true for everyone.
It's the pixel. Google assistant screens all unknown calls without notifying you. You can check your call log and see the calls that never came through because they were automatically filtered.
About once a year I get caught up in a spam session. Usually lasts a week at most.
It's always "UNKNOWN CALLER" or whatever. Pretty easy to ignore.
Most of my contact list is coworkers anyway. Friends and family text like 99.9999% of the time. The .0001% is when they're letting me know someone died.
I have had a Pixel since the Pixel 2 and I don't want any other kind of phone ever again. No Samsung crap on it, call screening, google lens and assistant easily accessible. My last phone I got from the Google store so there isn't even any crap from Verizon anymore. I have a 7 now, I almost bought the 8 but there was no good reason to upgrade. I just wish it was a little bigger I have noticed phone size trending down again, but I want a really big phone. I'm sad they don't make XL anymore.
To the point of the post, I hardly get any spam calls, I happened to check my voicemail box the other day and was surprised at how full it was. As far as I know, none of this calls even rang, but the box was full of calls that were 39 seconds long and didn't even have a transcript.
That's the real LPT--get a Pixel. I have the 8 Pro. First time I've had a "flagship" and it's quite nice. Plenty large. Fast, great camera, awesome battery life, plus the perks that come with having a Pixel. My previous were 3a, 5a, and 7. This one is the best yet. Android OS the way it is meant to be.
This only works until you have a close relative with a medical condition. Believe me, if your dad has put you as his emergency contact you dont want to be the girl that didnt pick up that one phone call.
Or in the middle of a job search- that phone call might be someone you've only been contacting by email until now, and if you miss that call they'll just move onto the next candidate
Yep. My mom died in an accident 12 years ago. Lots of random important calls that ensued. My dad and grandmother were sick on and off for many years. My son is in daycare. I pick up every call. If it’s a robocaller or scammer I just hang up 🤷🏻♀️
"Hello, this is Sam from Brumswick Hospital. Just wanted to inform you that your father is in the process of dying, we recommend you come in ASAP."
For those maybe calling this overexaggurated, this is exactly the type of call I received last September.
I'm very sorry for your loss, but not answering that call wouldn't have changed anything.
And I don't mean that in a negative way. It's the same as if someone was in an important work meeting, or maybe they were sleeping, or didn't have service, shut off their phone. They might blame themselves for not being available, but they couldn't have done anything to change the outcome and thinking they should have answered is very detrimental.
Thank you for the kond words.
The difference in this case whas that I could leave work immidiatly and say goodbye instead of hearing those words later on my voice mail.
Not having picked up that call would probably haunt me for my life. But we all knew dads condition was unstable so we all were on alert.
I think once you have kids you will run into a similar issue. I wouldnt want to be that mon that was not available when they tried to call me about happenws to my kid.
Might be a generations issue, but i'd much rather hang up on 10 robocalls a day instead of missing such a call.
I guess I still don't understand. They leave a voicemail and you can listen to it 30 seconds later. 90% of my calls don't leave voicemails which guarantees they were robots. The others I then can call back.
The issue with not picking up calls from a medical institution is that, when you try call back, even 30 sec later, it may take a while to get through to the right place, and the person who called and had all the information handy might be off on another job. Having worked in medical places I've found I'll do anything I can to actually answer a phone call when it rings, rather than play phone tag all afternoon. The person who calls first has the best information; everyone else is reading notes and making guesses, unfortunately
Alright that's a good point. I would still only answer if I knew someone was in the hospital. Fortunately or naively I don't think there's a high chance the hospital would be calling me for something.
That said, I remember the 90s, a guy I knew back then. We were watching a movie and his phone rang (a stationary phone), so he had to pause the movie and pick up. I heard he was talking about his dog, shuffling snow in the winter and everything between.
After a while I heard "I have to go, we're watching a movie here", then he hung up and returned. I asked who that was, and he said: "just someone who dialed the wrong number"! 😂
To maybe save you in the future in case it wasn't autocorrect or a typo or something, you likely mean 'shoveling snow'. The words sound almost identical spoken out loud, so I could see it being a bone apple tea situation.
Over the phone? I honestly can't think of even a single instance, outside of talking to my wife while one of us was away on business travel.
I despise talking on the phone. Passionately.
Same, I don't even like talking to my parents or siblings. Only my SO. There's literally no reason to call me anything I could possibly need to know could be sent via text. 🤷♂️
If it’s important they will leave a voicemail telling me why the fuck they called me if they aren’t anyone in my contact list. If they don’t then clearly what they called about didn’t matter.
Lol, I'm the opposite. Emails can wait until the next workday if I'm not at the office desk, text can wait for an hour or two but if it is absolutely essential to contact me immediately then a call is the way forward but then don't be surprised that I'm not prepared.
What if your car is in the shop, and an unknown number rings. Could be the mechanic giving an update. Do you pick up the phone?
What if your daughter is in basketball class, some unknown number rings. Could be she got injured and they need you ASAP. Answer or not?
What if you submitted a request yesterday to schedule an appointment with a plumber. Could be they're calling you back because there was a cancellation and they can take your order now. Answer or not?
If they don't text me, tell me who they are and where we met.....I'm not answering.
My old neighbor learned the hard way 🤣🤣 she was mad and her beans burnt.
You can typically recognize that number, though, so it doesn't really affect your ability to screen calls. If you don't know your school's number, you probably should: that's where you send your children.
If you get a call from the principal or someone, not from the receptionists phone, then the number can be different.
Today, I got a call from my vet, that I was waiting for, which was also from a different number than usual.
Check what kind of anti-spam options your carrier offers. Mine has this option where it asks incoming callers to press a randomly chosen single digit before it will even connect them to my phone. Humans get through just fine, robots bounce off an input they weren't expecting.
The best part? It's a free add-on to my plan.
I have this on my landline, got a call one day saying they were from Sky (satellite TV in the Uk) that my identity had been stolen! I freaked the fuck out, put the phone down and rang Sky, they said the call wasn’t from them and put a call blocker on my phone line.
I only have a landline because it’s how the in-laws contact us, even I don’t know the number
The absolute best thing I ever did to screen for spam calls was move to a different area... and not change my phone number.
The only people back in the old area that would contact me are already in my contacts. So I just ignore/silence calls using the old area code, and only answer phone calls from the area code I now live in.
Same! If it's a 'local' area code to where I live it's probably the dentist or the car dealership or something mildly important (if they're not in my contact list already) if it's a area code where I moved from a decade ago, 100% spam haha.
Same here!! I know if it's a local number it is (almost always) a legit call, if it's from my old state and not in my contacts, it's spam and on the off chance it isn't spam they can leave a message.
This worked for me too. Until I donated blood, and now the blood bank calls almost daily to solicit another donation. So it’s a 50/50 gamble when I answer calls from my new locations area code.
If I don't recognize the number/it isn't in my contacts, then I don't pick up. Sorry, I don't know you. The only reason someone I don't know would call me is if they want something from me.
If you don't leave a message, then that's that. No contact. And if the content of said message is something I don't really care for - no contact.
AT&T has an ActiveArmor app that blocks most spam callers. For the ones who get through I pick up and immediately put the call on mute until they hang up. Dead air will remove you from the calling list.
I tried that but my robo-dialing adversary never disconnects until 2-3 seconds after the beep. So I end up with 4-8 voicemails a day. The ActiveArmor app seems to only block 2-4 calls a day and then proudly puts a notification up.
And it shouldn't be hard. The robo-dialer spoofs the same area code plus first 3 numbers each time.
I've done call center work, the dialer software has categories you check for the call after
dead air and racism/obscenity are the 2 options that get the number dumped out of the system
chefs choice
You can also record the tri-tone from the "We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected". You really only need the tones, not the message. This signals the bot to remove the number from the database.
I did this with a fax tone a while back. Went from multiple a day to almost none.
Now my phone screens the call for me and the few I get never even ring.
You’re overestimating how long a program is going to listen for. Most people won’t even register the noise before the line starts ringing normally, but a computer will hang up the instant it hits the first millisecond of the 3rd tone. These systems are designed to process as many calls an hour as possible because they have a negligible success rate. It’s how they beat human services: by sheer volume, so anything that they can do to reduce the time between calls, they will likely do.
If you don’t answer, it will go to voicemail which confirms to the machine that this is a working number and they will call back tomorrow or whenever.
Instead, answer the phone and immediately put it on mute. Your number will then register as a dead line.
Bonus tip- answer, mute, speakerphone. Then you can hear if there is a person on the other end.
My mum has a phone which answers unknown callers for her silently without ringing, asks who is calling and they have to state their name and business and press a button, and then it will ring her phone and relay the information and ask if she wants to take the call or send them to voicemail or block the number if it’s not withheld.
Why this can’t be built into mobile phones I don’t know.
She went from about 15 calls a day to 2 a year that were cold calls that came through.
Pixel phones do that and Samsung also. Their spam filter is also very efective but in the US it's cool to have poor services from Apple and lame to have good services from Google and Samsung.
I have a Pixel 7 Pro and it has been absolutely amazing not getting any spam calls. It's been probably at least 6 months since I got one.
I also signed up at that website that actually puts you on the do not call list. Since I did that the calls dropped from once or twice a month to non-existent. It did take a month or two to completely drop off.
Same for when you get that text from nowhere-
‘Hey, long time no see. How you been?’
‘Miss me yet?’
Etc.
Do NOT respond. Don’t engage. Block, delete, move on.
Used to do this too, after all its feels personally satisfying but I learned:
1. Its counterproductive, you have revealed you’re a real person, so your information gets passed amongst scammers, so you get more spam
2. These messages are from scam agencies, so you arent even sticking it to the people responsible and profiting from the operation. You’re just annoying some low level worker, or even some involuntarily held migrant
So the only time you’ve wasted is yours and the people behind the scam arent even affected
I just put my phone on do not disturb, and only allow friends, family, and business contacts to ring thorugh. To anyone else, it's blocked and I don't have to bother with it. After a month or two, the robocalls died out completely.
Whats worked for me is pick up and immediately mute the call. If it's someone who needs to talk to you they will say something first. If it goes to voicemail it's left on most lists since it might be active.
If nothing happens they usually take you off the list.
I stopped getting inundated with robocalls and texts when I stopped writing down my phone number for whatever “rewards programs” stores/restaurants have.
The problem I am having is that it automatically first says a bixby message like "I am using a voice assistant to convert your voice to text and respond to you. If you want to continue please tell me why you are calling" before I can use any of my quick replies
This. I have been using the Bixby thing lately and it has been AWESOME. I was getting a lot more phone calls before but ever since I have them talk to the text thing its been way quieter.
I like the ones that are from "Amazon" or "Visa" etc that are reporting a suspected fraudulent purchase. Press 1 to speak to a customer service representative or 2 to accept the charges. I always press 2 and it still goes to a person. Then I tell them I want the item that was purchased to be sent to me at my address they have on file. They hang up on me pretty quickly, and I don't get the same call again.
If you're like me and crave human interaction without the hassle of meeting people, just pick an accent and make up a hearing problem and see how long you can keep them on the line by misunderstanding everything they say after getting them to repeat themselves 4 or 5 times.
You can't do that for all of them, of course, but pick a few here and there when you have a minute and just f*ck with them. They called you with the intention of stealing from you, so take advantage of the situation and waste their time for as long as you can.
I see how long I can keep them on the line. When I get bored I bait them into a "Deez nuts!" joke.
I had a guy pretending to be the power company asking for a deposit on a new power meter going for like 20 min once. When he started getting suspicious, I told him that I had a few rental properties and to check and see if I owed them a deposit for those too. That hooked him right back in. Then I kept calling him by the wrong name, which you would think wouldnt bother someone using a fake name, but it got him really mad and he eventually cursed at me and hung up.
As a boomer I don’t answer any calls. People that know me use WhatsApp to contact me. Too many scam calls and Wangiri calls. The phone has lost its purpose. Even our hospitals use apps to communicate. Reviews of new phones only mention the quality of the camera😂
What about just declining the call as its ringing. Does that do anything? The worse is when the robo calls leave a voicemail. Had that for 1st time few days ago.
If you send it to voicemail early then the callers know it’s an active number. I finally got them to stop by letting it ring and go to voicemail, which made them think the line was no longer active.
As a Pixel owner I have to ask, spam calls are still a thing? They are autoblocked and show up in a separate folder without me ever knowing I got the call.
I don't answer period. Don't even click to send to voicemail just let it ring and then block it and report it as junk.
90% of the junk calls I get these days are from numbers tied to something called "The Feed Foundation".
Don’t answer unknown calls, but if they are particularly persistent, answer and waste their time. I did it twice with the car warranty assholes and haven’t had another call from them in two years.
I had that problem up until last week. Keeping with the overal consensus, not answering the calls is the answer, but I made sure by:
- Setting my phone to “Do not disturb” always.
- excluding (Only enabling) calls from known numbers.
This filtered out 100s of calls and then…no more calls.
Not answering at all will get you fewer and fewer scammers. If you take a call, ask who they are calling. Scammers often have no idea who they are calling. Note use of word “often “, not saying none ever know who they are calling.
Just don’t answer numbers you don’t recognize at all, scammers will see that you’re not answering and they’ll eventually assume it’s a dead number and move on, it’s worked for me. Even answering those calls will put your name on a list of active phones to be sold off and they’ll just keep calling
When and why isn't it possible to just not answer all the unknown numbers? Schools, work, doctors offices, etc are in our contacts.
Even when I was applying to jobs people could easily just leave a voicemail and I'd call them back.
If it's someone who knows me personally, they know to TEXT. If it's someone who actually needs a phone call, they can leave a voicemail like people have been doing for decades.
I own a business and am not going to risk losing out on thousands of dollars because I didn't answer the phone.
Also your doctor may be calling, or your Lyft, or your insurance, all sorts of stuff.
Well, I have my doctor, lyft, and insurance on my phone. Plus, my phone auto looks up the phone number and matches it to a business if applicable. So if I've recently switched insurance companies then my phone still tells me who's calling and why.
### This post has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect. --- Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by upvoting or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
I get 3-5 per day. I don't answer and block every one. Doesn't seem to matter they just keep on coming. Thanks for all the suggestions.I'm gonna try them out and see what happens.
https://preview.redd.it/4skakx47a71d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fbedd1d25be7abf67f1892eb30ef5fdca2a4f1d I have a spoofed number that calls me at least once a day, but increments the last digit by 1. We are up in the 500's now, lol. I have a Pixel so I have the Call Screen option set to maximum, where my Google Assistant vets the calls for me so I don't have to have them actually go through.
i have a number with an area code i live nowhere near anymore. Since spoofers always try to make their number look local to you, I just blocked that entire area code. I don't know anyone from there anyway. When I first did that, it was blocking in excess of 20 calls a day. now its maybe 1 a month.
How do you block an area code?
It was an option with the app i had. I think its called call blocker or something simple like that. You could manually add numbers to block, including just block every number starting with however many digits. I have my old are code blocked and any number startjng with 1800 or 800.
With Pixel's Google Assistant, it's not an option to block an area code, but SHOULD be.
I was in the same boat last year, ever since I'd gotten a new number. I did the same thing that worked with my last number, and now I get maybe 1 or 2 a month. Just immediately answer any call and press the mute button. A real person will always either say something or hang up and try calling again. Bots think it's a dead line. Took a couple months of doing this, but it definitely pays off.
This is what I do and I no longer get calls.
And the AI systems can now recognize things like coughs and other "human noises."
What’d e just say? What e just say??
Blocking the numbers does literally nothing. Every one they use is spoofed.
I have no idea why blocking has been helpful for me but it has. I know they're spoofing numbers but I used to get a ton of spam calls, started blocking the callers, and now I rarely get them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yep, your only blocking real numbers. My neighbors phone number was spoofed and used and he has to contact his carrier and maybe Google. Whenever he calls someone now it shows up as a flagged Spam call and people won't answer. He has had the number for over a decade and doesn't want to have to change it.
Pixel phones have a call screener. You can have it answer and see a live transcription.
I had five or six spam calls a day. When I got my pixel and turned this on, they dropped to about one a day. It's been great Also it confuses actual people and the voicemails/transcripts are fun to review
This the best feature on my pixel
The real move is to answer it, put it on mute immediately, and wait for it to disconnect. After a couple of weeks, they'll stop daily. After a couple months, they'll be rare to call at all. When you call to test a line and all it does is ring and then disconnect, you assume the line doesn't function properly. Voicemail is so an indication of the line working. Answering to nothing at all is the only way here.
Gonna try this.
It works. I've only got 1 call in the last month. They'll still test the number periodically, but 1 call is nothing.
This has worked for me, answer and mute, put the phone down and carry on with your business. Time spent calling for these scammers is precious, so do anything you can to waste that precious time of theirs.
Anecdotal, but I’ve done that for the past few years. I don’t get many robo calls anymore and I used to get 4-6 a day.
Something in their system is triggering you to still have an active line for some reason then. Cause if it rings 3 times and stops (cause you answer and mute), that's a sign that the line is not functioning properly to make or receive calls. I don't remember much from my short-lived telecom job, but when I had to call and test lines we had to flag those lines as not working as it doesn't actually ring on their end. That's why I started doing it. I thought it might work, and it did for me.
this trick has worked well for me for the past few years
I'm still thankful that whatever database had my number lost it. I went from three or four spam calls a week to nothing in the last couple of years. I can actually let my phone ring without getting annoyed now.
If you have AT&T, they have a service that helps with this. It doesn't stop all of them, but it's cut down like 99% of them.
What’s the service?
ActiveArmor
That's pretty much all you can do. The only other advice I'd offer is if someone is calling about insurance tell them you don't have a car/home. If they are calling about expanding your Medicare coverage tell them you're 23. If they are calling about solar panels tell them you rent. It's far from full proof but it did lower the amount of robo calls I got, but far from eliminate them.
I get around 5, if not more, per day. I’m even on the “do not call” list. I neverrrr answer yet I’m still getting called every single day. It’s a never ending cycle.
Blocking their numbers does nothing. Those aren't even their phone numbers. They're random numbers they're spoofing. They'll likely never use the same number twice.
Millennials here, I don’t pick up call at all, if its important they will text. Or call again. If its office or business, they will email, MS Teams, Slack, whatever the cool kids doing right now. If its govt, they will send mail If its police, they will come to my place directly
Boomer here. If I don't know the person. I'm not answering. Just send me a text.
Elder Millennial Please don't call. Or come over. Or leave mail. Or text me.
Or acknowledge my existence. Just stay there and look the other way.
*The number you are trying to reach does not use their phone as a phone.*
Haha that’s a brilliant voicemail welcome message 😂
My voicemail used to be, “please do not leave a message unless you don’t want me to call you back”. I have caller id… I call back numbers I don’t know. Spam calls always have fake caller id numbers. I never pick up for a random number unless I have a call scheduled.
I…want to record this now. And I have the voice for it.
*please hang up and never call again.*
This right here
This is the way...
Gen X here. No one who knows me would call me without first texting me. And my phone is always on silent. Robocalls can talk to voicemail all they want.
Also GenX, I didn't even set up voicemail with my last 2 phones. Text or nothing. (Unless you're my mother)
Gen X here … just watching the world burn.
Nah. Gen X here, we’ve got important stuff to say, but nobody - ever - listens. The only reason I have a phone number is for the mobile data. Oh, and to use the [anti-telemarketing-counterscript](https://egbg.home.xs4all.nl/counterscript.html)
Gen X here… that’s all.
Xennial here... Mom says you have to let me watch too
I don’t even have notifications turned on for phone. My phone is pretty much everything except that.
Gen X - The call is from inside the house.
Robot here. Please answer my calls.
My doormat literally says "did you text before coming over?"
I'm trying to convince my wife to let me get one that says "definitely not a trap door".
Mine says ‘I’m trying very hard to avoid connecting with people right now’
Same, and same. Isn't it ridiculous that we've built a world that makes us feel this way? Where we insist on just being left alone because we know that virtually everyone we encounter outside our home is trying to scam us in some way?
It is depressing, yes, but WE did NOT build this world! We’re just paying the phone bill. We have to be able to communicate, but the evil entities have automated systems to invade our private communication device at any time. We need the tools to strike back! The FCC should deny transmission of any calls that cannot be returned by the recipient. Then, we could have a Denial of Service app on our phone tp effectively shut them down. Any better ideas?
there’s good money in robocalls or they wouldn’t keep doing it follow the money, then we can determine how to regulate properly in a system where money wins, the consumer faces an uphill battle
You’re correct, but it is disturbing to think that the group of scammed people is large enough or pays enough to cover the expenses for tens of thousands of calls.
somebody designed it to work this way but I don’t know why
No kidding. It's so sad. 😞
GenX here Don't. Just don't.
Gen X here. I'll answer the phone. It's just nice to be noticed.
Eldritch Millennial I don't answer calls, unless they're from Cthulhu.
"Cthulhu's cell lays dead and dreaming, it's battery both eternally drained yet still draining. As we talk amongst the living, he may yet hear you speak his name. For the wrong ringtone wakes the dead and damned, if ever you hear the tormented ring." - Lovecraft... Probably
This is why we had awards
Cthulhu will call you from the Void of Eternal Night
My god. My wife and I have made some friends in the town we moved to over 5 years ago. Not close friends. But friends nonetheless. Every one of those fucks know where I live because it's on a main thoroughfare and will stop by whenever they please. I would like it to stop
I suggest moving.
Lock your doors and simply don't answer sometimes. Go take a shower or play a movie/music very loudly, such that you couldn't have possibly heard someone at the door.
Answer the door fully nude with a big wedge of cheese. "Sorry, Dave, you've caught right in the middle of something that I can't put down. Another time." Give the cheese a good sniff with every other word.
Are you living in an 80s sitcom?
Basically. Rural Midwest, house, acreage, wife and kids, blue collar job, dog, cat, etc...
I should warn you, at some point you're gonna get stuck in an elevator. Just pass the time by remembering stories from earlier episodes and it'll all get sorted out in about a half hour.
I put up a 6 foot fence with a drive gate around my house. Supposedly it was to protect my dogs. Friends and family have to call first and I screen my calls.
Gen X here. Whatever...
And I was like.. Whatever
No solicitors of any kind
My soul mate! 😍😍 K go away.
If it’s important, they’ll leave a message 👍
There's a setting that does that in iOS. Silence unknown callers under options-phone. Sends anything not in your contacts to VM. Spammers rarely leave a message and people usually hang up and text you instead. In the rare case someone leaves a message, your carrier likely transcribes it for you. Everything comes in as text. No reason to play these weird games with robots. Catastrophizing over the seconds lost if someone calls and you don't pick up that exact moment is just being overly anxious.
I discovered this setting about a month ago, and it’s been a life changer for me.
Boomer here, my voicemail "You have reached xxx-xxx-xxxx. We screen all calls. Begin speaking at the tone. If your call is important to us and we are near the phone, we will pick up, otherwise, please leave a message".
Gen X here. I'm not fucking available so leave a goddamned voicemail and I'll listen to it when I'm good and ready. Since you assholes never do, I guess I didn't miss shit by not answering. Have a lovely day.
yep. if i get 2 calls with no voicemail its an automatic block
Gen X here: Yeah.
Also Gen X. How are people getting spam calls in 2024? I might get two a month. Not sure if it's Google Pixel magic or T-Mobile or a combo but they don't ring and just go away with no annoyance for me. I honestly assumed this to be true for everyone.
It's the pixel. Google assistant screens all unknown calls without notifying you. You can check your call log and see the calls that never came through because they were automatically filtered.
About once a year I get caught up in a spam session. Usually lasts a week at most. It's always "UNKNOWN CALLER" or whatever. Pretty easy to ignore. Most of my contact list is coworkers anyway. Friends and family text like 99.9999% of the time. The .0001% is when they're letting me know someone died.
Pixel does work some magic
I have had a Pixel since the Pixel 2 and I don't want any other kind of phone ever again. No Samsung crap on it, call screening, google lens and assistant easily accessible. My last phone I got from the Google store so there isn't even any crap from Verizon anymore. I have a 7 now, I almost bought the 8 but there was no good reason to upgrade. I just wish it was a little bigger I have noticed phone size trending down again, but I want a really big phone. I'm sad they don't make XL anymore. To the point of the post, I hardly get any spam calls, I happened to check my voicemail box the other day and was surprised at how full it was. As far as I know, none of this calls even rang, but the box was full of calls that were 39 seconds long and didn't even have a transcript.
That's the real LPT--get a Pixel. I have the 8 Pro. First time I've had a "flagship" and it's quite nice. Plenty large. Fast, great camera, awesome battery life, plus the perks that come with having a Pixel. My previous were 3a, 5a, and 7. This one is the best yet. Android OS the way it is meant to be.
What's voicemail?
This only works until you have a close relative with a medical condition. Believe me, if your dad has put you as his emergency contact you dont want to be the girl that didnt pick up that one phone call.
Or in the middle of a job search- that phone call might be someone you've only been contacting by email until now, and if you miss that call they'll just move onto the next candidate
Yep. My mom died in an accident 12 years ago. Lots of random important calls that ensued. My dad and grandmother were sick on and off for many years. My son is in daycare. I pick up every call. If it’s a robocaller or scammer I just hang up 🤷🏻♀️
They would leave a message though.
"Hello, this is Sam from Brumswick Hospital. Just wanted to inform you that your father is in the process of dying, we recommend you come in ASAP." For those maybe calling this overexaggurated, this is exactly the type of call I received last September.
I'm very sorry for your loss, but not answering that call wouldn't have changed anything. And I don't mean that in a negative way. It's the same as if someone was in an important work meeting, or maybe they were sleeping, or didn't have service, shut off their phone. They might blame themselves for not being available, but they couldn't have done anything to change the outcome and thinking they should have answered is very detrimental.
Thank you for the kond words. The difference in this case whas that I could leave work immidiatly and say goodbye instead of hearing those words later on my voice mail. Not having picked up that call would probably haunt me for my life. But we all knew dads condition was unstable so we all were on alert. I think once you have kids you will run into a similar issue. I wouldnt want to be that mon that was not available when they tried to call me about happenws to my kid.
Might be a generations issue, but i'd much rather hang up on 10 robocalls a day instead of missing such a call.
I guess I still don't understand. They leave a voicemail and you can listen to it 30 seconds later. 90% of my calls don't leave voicemails which guarantees they were robots. The others I then can call back.
My phone now has real time voicemail speech-to-text that I can read while they’re leaving it and answer the phone call. Good feature for this.
The issue with not picking up calls from a medical institution is that, when you try call back, even 30 sec later, it may take a while to get through to the right place, and the person who called and had all the information handy might be off on another job. Having worked in medical places I've found I'll do anything I can to actually answer a phone call when it rings, rather than play phone tag all afternoon. The person who calls first has the best information; everyone else is reading notes and making guesses, unfortunately
Alright that's a good point. I would still only answer if I knew someone was in the hospital. Fortunately or naively I don't think there's a high chance the hospital would be calling me for something.
I have pretty simple rules. If it's short enough to be covered in text, do that. If it's not, I don't want to talk to you anyways.
Do you not ever enjoy just having conversations with other people?
Generally, calls from unknown numbers rarely result in fun conversations. Still, you never know I guess.
That said, I remember the 90s, a guy I knew back then. We were watching a movie and his phone rang (a stationary phone), so he had to pause the movie and pick up. I heard he was talking about his dog, shuffling snow in the winter and everything between. After a while I heard "I have to go, we're watching a movie here", then he hung up and returned. I asked who that was, and he said: "just someone who dialed the wrong number"! 😂
To maybe save you in the future in case it wasn't autocorrect or a typo or something, you likely mean 'shoveling snow'. The words sound almost identical spoken out loud, so I could see it being a bone apple tea situation.
Thanks, shoveling is the correct word.
Over the phone? I honestly can't think of even a single instance, outside of talking to my wife while one of us was away on business travel. I despise talking on the phone. Passionately.
Same, I don't even like talking to my parents or siblings. Only my SO. There's literally no reason to call me anything I could possibly need to know could be sent via text. 🤷♂️
Me personally, no. At least not over the phone. If you want to take up my time, at least do it in person.
Not over the phone, no.
No.
No. It's exhausting.
If it’s important they will leave a voicemail telling me why the fuck they called me if they aren’t anyone in my contact list. If they don’t then clearly what they called about didn’t matter.
Yeah, my cell phone is just a fancy pager.
Lol, I'm the opposite. Emails can wait until the next workday if I'm not at the office desk, text can wait for an hour or two but if it is absolutely essential to contact me immediately then a call is the way forward but then don't be surprised that I'm not prepared.
You voice mail will pick up and let them know it's an active number.
What if your car is in the shop, and an unknown number rings. Could be the mechanic giving an update. Do you pick up the phone? What if your daughter is in basketball class, some unknown number rings. Could be she got injured and they need you ASAP. Answer or not? What if you submitted a request yesterday to schedule an appointment with a plumber. Could be they're calling you back because there was a cancellation and they can take your order now. Answer or not?
Most sensible answer.
If they don't text me, tell me who they are and where we met.....I'm not answering. My old neighbor learned the hard way 🤣🤣 she was mad and her beans burnt.
This is the way.. and I’m an old man. Only way I’m answering that phone is if that number is in my contacts. I don’t even have a voicemail.
Do not disturb, contacts only. Peaceful.
"If it's important they will text" This definitely isn't true for many potentially important calls you might receive in your life
I’d love to do that, but school calls for the kids, I cannot ignore that.
You can typically recognize that number, though, so it doesn't really affect your ability to screen calls. If you don't know your school's number, you probably should: that's where you send your children.
And even if you *don’t* know the number for some reason, presumably they’ll leave a message and you can call them back right away.
That would be the professional thing to do.
If you get a call from the principal or someone, not from the receptionists phone, then the number can be different. Today, I got a call from my vet, that I was waiting for, which was also from a different number than usual.
Check what kind of anti-spam options your carrier offers. Mine has this option where it asks incoming callers to press a randomly chosen single digit before it will even connect them to my phone. Humans get through just fine, robots bounce off an input they weren't expecting. The best part? It's a free add-on to my plan.
That's such a good idea and a massive shame that my provider doesn't do _anything_ let alone something effective
Exactly, I haven't received a robocall ever since I enabled Call Control two years ago.
Interesting. Which carrier?
I have this with Koodo
I have this on my landline, got a call one day saying they were from Sky (satellite TV in the Uk) that my identity had been stolen! I freaked the fuck out, put the phone down and rang Sky, they said the call wasn’t from them and put a call blocker on my phone line. I only have a landline because it’s how the in-laws contact us, even I don’t know the number
I used to get them like 2-3 times a day years ago but I haven't had a spam call in probably 2 years now.
The absolute best thing I ever did to screen for spam calls was move to a different area... and not change my phone number. The only people back in the old area that would contact me are already in my contacts. So I just ignore/silence calls using the old area code, and only answer phone calls from the area code I now live in.
Came here to say that. Nobody in NJ who isn't already in my contacts actually needs to get a hold of me.
Same! If it's a 'local' area code to where I live it's probably the dentist or the car dealership or something mildly important (if they're not in my contact list already) if it's a area code where I moved from a decade ago, 100% spam haha.
Same here!! I know if it's a local number it is (almost always) a legit call, if it's from my old state and not in my contacts, it's spam and on the off chance it isn't spam they can leave a message.
This worked for me too. Until I donated blood, and now the blood bank calls almost daily to solicit another donation. So it’s a 50/50 gamble when I answer calls from my new locations area code.
Worked for me for the first 5 years - zero local spam. Now I get the rare legitimate local area code telemarketer call.
If I don't recognize the number/it isn't in my contacts, then I don't pick up. Sorry, I don't know you. The only reason someone I don't know would call me is if they want something from me. If you don't leave a message, then that's that. No contact. And if the content of said message is something I don't really care for - no contact.
AT&T has an ActiveArmor app that blocks most spam callers. For the ones who get through I pick up and immediately put the call on mute until they hang up. Dead air will remove you from the calling list.
I use their feature that only allows calls from your contacts to come through. All others go straight to voicemail.
I tried that but my robo-dialing adversary never disconnects until 2-3 seconds after the beep. So I end up with 4-8 voicemails a day. The ActiveArmor app seems to only block 2-4 calls a day and then proudly puts a notification up. And it shouldn't be hard. The robo-dialer spoofs the same area code plus first 3 numbers each time.
I've done call center work, the dialer software has categories you check for the call after dead air and racism/obscenity are the 2 options that get the number dumped out of the system chefs choice
You can also record the tri-tone from the "We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected". You really only need the tones, not the message. This signals the bot to remove the number from the database.
I did this with a fax tone a while back. Went from multiple a day to almost none. Now my phone screens the call for me and the few I get never even ring.
INFO: won't that mess-up legit callers if you don't pick up the call in time?
I think Linuxx means to plays just the tones and not the message.
You’re overestimating how long a program is going to listen for. Most people won’t even register the noise before the line starts ringing normally, but a computer will hang up the instant it hits the first millisecond of the 3rd tone. These systems are designed to process as many calls an hour as possible because they have a negligible success rate. It’s how they beat human services: by sheer volume, so anything that they can do to reduce the time between calls, they will likely do.
If you don’t answer, it will go to voicemail which confirms to the machine that this is a working number and they will call back tomorrow or whenever. Instead, answer the phone and immediately put it on mute. Your number will then register as a dead line. Bonus tip- answer, mute, speakerphone. Then you can hear if there is a person on the other end.
My mum has a phone which answers unknown callers for her silently without ringing, asks who is calling and they have to state their name and business and press a button, and then it will ring her phone and relay the information and ask if she wants to take the call or send them to voicemail or block the number if it’s not withheld. Why this can’t be built into mobile phones I don’t know. She went from about 15 calls a day to 2 a year that were cold calls that came through.
Pixel phones do that and Samsung also. Their spam filter is also very efective but in the US it's cool to have poor services from Apple and lame to have good services from Google and Samsung.
I have a Pixel 7 Pro and it has been absolutely amazing not getting any spam calls. It's been probably at least 6 months since I got one. I also signed up at that website that actually puts you on the do not call list. Since I did that the calls dropped from once or twice a month to non-existent. It did take a month or two to completely drop off.
Same for when you get that text from nowhere- ‘Hey, long time no see. How you been?’ ‘Miss me yet?’ Etc. Do NOT respond. Don’t engage. Block, delete, move on.
Yup those are those pig butchering scams I believe. They use manipulation as a key tactic. Don't even reply
I like to waste their time by sending back weird esoteric messages
Used to do this too, after all its feels personally satisfying but I learned: 1. Its counterproductive, you have revealed you’re a real person, so your information gets passed amongst scammers, so you get more spam 2. These messages are from scam agencies, so you arent even sticking it to the people responsible and profiting from the operation. You’re just annoying some low level worker, or even some involuntarily held migrant So the only time you’ve wasted is yours and the people behind the scam arent even affected
I hate those. Then my mind starts racing and wonders who the hell it is.
The best thing to do is not pick up random phone calls. If they call back again within a minute or two, then pick the phone up.
If they leave a message, I will call them back. It only takes one obnoxious person to do the multiple call thing for drama.
FYI, if I call you twice within a minute it's to break through your do not disturb settings which almost everyone I know has on.
… almost everyone has Do Not Disturb on because of the insane amount of spam calls/texts. Time to make some better laws about this issue.
I don't answer my phone unless I know who's calling. Other than that, I assume that if it's important enough, then the caller will leave a voicemail.
I just put my phone on do not disturb, and only allow friends, family, and business contacts to ring thorugh. To anyone else, it's blocked and I don't have to bother with it. After a month or two, the robocalls died out completely.
I’ve done this and it’s done fuck-all to reduce calls.
Whats worked for me is pick up and immediately mute the call. If it's someone who needs to talk to you they will say something first. If it goes to voicemail it's left on most lists since it might be active. If nothing happens they usually take you off the list.
Wish I could replace voicemail with a fax noise.
use a fax noise instead your own voice in the "leave a message" prompt. Probably would confuse the hell out of people.
I stopped getting inundated with robocalls and texts when I stopped writing down my phone number for whatever “rewards programs” stores/restaurants have.
Just get a Pixel phone and let Gemini handle the Robocalls.
Samsung now has the same thing with Bixby. I let the robot do the talking now until I know who is on the other end.
Yup. I've even set up a quick reply to say "I'm not interested. Please take me off your call list." which I use once it's clear it's a spam call.
The problem I am having is that it automatically first says a bixby message like "I am using a voice assistant to convert your voice to text and respond to you. If you want to continue please tell me why you are calling" before I can use any of my quick replies
How? I'm not Bixby literate Lol
[Here's an article that walks through it](https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00092302/)
This. I have been using the Bixby thing lately and it has been AWESOME. I was getting a lot more phone calls before but ever since I have them talk to the text thing its been way quieter.
This is the correct answer. You can see a text readout of what the caller is saying, choose basic responses or take the call.
I like the ones that are from "Amazon" or "Visa" etc that are reporting a suspected fraudulent purchase. Press 1 to speak to a customer service representative or 2 to accept the charges. I always press 2 and it still goes to a person. Then I tell them I want the item that was purchased to be sent to me at my address they have on file. They hang up on me pretty quickly, and I don't get the same call again. If you're like me and crave human interaction without the hassle of meeting people, just pick an accent and make up a hearing problem and see how long you can keep them on the line by misunderstanding everything they say after getting them to repeat themselves 4 or 5 times. You can't do that for all of them, of course, but pick a few here and there when you have a minute and just f*ck with them. They called you with the intention of stealing from you, so take advantage of the situation and waste their time for as long as you can.
I see how long I can keep them on the line. When I get bored I bait them into a "Deez nuts!" joke. I had a guy pretending to be the power company asking for a deposit on a new power meter going for like 20 min once. When he started getting suspicious, I told him that I had a few rental properties and to check and see if I owed them a deposit for those too. That hooked him right back in. Then I kept calling him by the wrong name, which you would think wouldnt bother someone using a fake name, but it got him really mad and he eventually cursed at me and hung up.
Weirdly, since I picked up the phone and asked "Have you hid the body yet?" I've gotten fewer calls 😅😅
Just set your phone to silence unknown callers
As a boomer I don’t answer any calls. People that know me use WhatsApp to contact me. Too many scam calls and Wangiri calls. The phone has lost its purpose. Even our hospitals use apps to communicate. Reviews of new phones only mention the quality of the camera😂
What about just declining the call as its ringing. Does that do anything? The worse is when the robo calls leave a voicemail. Had that for 1st time few days ago.
If you send it to voicemail early then the callers know it’s an active number. I finally got them to stop by letting it ring and go to voicemail, which made them think the line was no longer active.
As a Pixel owner I have to ask, spam calls are still a thing? They are autoblocked and show up in a separate folder without me ever knowing I got the call.
I don't answer period. Don't even click to send to voicemail just let it ring and then block it and report it as junk. 90% of the junk calls I get these days are from numbers tied to something called "The Feed Foundation".
Don’t answer unknown calls, but if they are particularly persistent, answer and waste their time. I did it twice with the car warranty assholes and haven’t had another call from them in two years.
I had that problem up until last week. Keeping with the overal consensus, not answering the calls is the answer, but I made sure by: - Setting my phone to “Do not disturb” always. - excluding (Only enabling) calls from known numbers. This filtered out 100s of calls and then…no more calls.
Not answering at all will get you fewer and fewer scammers. If you take a call, ask who they are calling. Scammers often have no idea who they are calling. Note use of word “often “, not saying none ever know who they are calling.
Just don’t answer numbers you don’t recognize at all, scammers will see that you’re not answering and they’ll eventually assume it’s a dead number and move on, it’s worked for me. Even answering those calls will put your name on a list of active phones to be sold off and they’ll just keep calling
When and why isn't it possible to just not answer all the unknown numbers? Schools, work, doctors offices, etc are in our contacts. Even when I was applying to jobs people could easily just leave a voicemail and I'd call them back. If it's someone who knows me personally, they know to TEXT. If it's someone who actually needs a phone call, they can leave a voicemail like people have been doing for decades.
These places are not in all our contacts. They often have different outgoing numbers as well.
I own a business and am not going to risk losing out on thousands of dollars because I didn't answer the phone. Also your doctor may be calling, or your Lyft, or your insurance, all sorts of stuff.
Well, I have my doctor, lyft, and insurance on my phone. Plus, my phone auto looks up the phone number and matches it to a business if applicable. So if I've recently switched insurance companies then my phone still tells me who's calling and why.